Reusing Antique Granites

Some of the handsomest granites for residential landscape use are those which were quarried and worked by stone cutters and masons a hundred years ago or more. With the wear of use and coloration from a century of exposure to the elements, these stones have a patina of age.

The granite bedrock formed around 4 or 500 million years ago, but the more recent history of granite as shaped by the hands of man has enhanced the beauty and potential usefulness of the pieces now available for our home purposes. When these shaped stones are brought into landscapes and garden settings, a quality of timelessness is added to our personal places.

The local granite in the past century was custom split and detailed for building and roadway uses, with alot of hand work involved. In this century many of those proud old stone buildings as well as the curbings and cobbles of our 19th and 20th century roads are gradually being replaced by modern constructs, using materials less costly and more easily handled than granite.

If care is taken when the old things are deconstructed, the granites comprising them can remain in perfect condition for reuse. The orphaned pieces may show excellent workmanship, whatever they were originally made for. There are many easily used shapes which require only a good imagination (and maybe a bobcat) to repurpose.

A Waterfall

The waterfall below was made from cornerstones of a New England Church. The building had been dismantled a hundred and ten years after it was constructed. Many granites from that carefully made Church are now embedded in residential landscapes that Stone Garden Designs Inc. has created. They have become parts of newly built steps and walls or have been reborn as seats or tables.

There can be many differently shaped granites in a building, as this Church illustrates.
Built in 1890, happily it is still standing.……………………………………………………..

A Place to Be

This table and the granite seats alongside of it were brought to my personal landscape, a wish granted for my 40th birthday. Originally foundation stones for a local building, they are now at the heart of my display gardens. The stone retaining walls were codesigned so as to incorporate them seamlessly.

……………………………………………………………….. ……………………… ……D.M.S.
A Simple Seat in a Woodland Margin

One cat,

.

Two cats.

……………..Just then, in she came from who knows where.

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For lots more information about Granite and stone use in the landscape, please use my search box.

Another title for this piece could have been “Low Maintenance Stone”. Once your substantial stones are settled, apart from sweeping them gently when you are so inclined, your only task will be to enjoy them.